Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Monday, October 17, 2011
Banish your beer belly for good...
Related articles
Struggling to get rid of that spare tyre? We've consulted the experts to find out how to banish that beer belly for good.
There are plenty of reasons many men find themselves carrying excess 'timber' around their middle. The good news is there are also numerous ways to reduce it. We asked a team of health experts to explain 10 ways a man can banish his beer belly forever.
It's not just about the booze
First things first, if you're carrying a few spare tyres, your love of a cold beer is unlikely to be the only cause.
"Alcohol is not the main contributor to developing a beer belly — people get beer bellies due to a number of lifestyle factors that are interconnected," points out sports psychologist and personal trainer Lisa Foley.
"Saturated fat is obviously a contributor but sugar and carbs also have a major role in storing fat and building the beer belly. When we eat food that's high in sugar and carbohydrates we release the hormone insulin. Insulin's job is to store the excess blood sugar, and its favourite place to store blood sugar is in our fat cells."
Calorie counting
However, as beer lovers it's all too easy to forget just how many calories a beer can contain.
"The higher the alcoholic content, the more calories the drink has," points out personal trainer and nutritionist Kevin Witham. "Most beer will have around 150-200 calories if you buy a pint."
Additionally, alcohol is an appetite-stimulant, so it's not just the calories in your pint that can lead to weight gain, but that fat-laden kebab or burger you'll wolf down after closing time.
The processed problem
Processed food is just one example of a food item that can lead to what we refer to as a beer belly.
"Try and cut out as much processed food as possible," suggests personal trainer Lee Siemaszko. "Eat fresh produce, try a variety of fruit and veg, and eat organic food where possible. Change your diet to one that is high in protein, but lower in carbs, have lean cuts of meat, chicken, fish, eggs, nuts and seeds, cut down on pasta, rice, potatoes and try to cut down on bread.
"Drink lots of water: cut down on alcohol, tea and coffee, with the odd cup of green tea. This will help clear your body of toxins, hydrate you, and speed up your metabolism."
Tummy trouble
It's common knowledge that having a beer belly can spell disaster for heart health.
"The problem with belly fat is that it is active," explains Lee Siemaszko. "It works like a separate organ, releasing substances that are harmful to your body. Abdominal fat bears the blame for many heart-related health problems because the fat sits within striking distance of your heart, liver and other organs, pressing on them, feeding them poisons and messing with their daily function."
Exercise alone is not enough
The bad news? While certain exercises can help tone stomach muscles, no amount of squats or crunches will banish your beer belly if you don't change your diet.
"You cannot spot reduce fat by targeting that area with specific exercises like crunches," warns Kevin Witham. "This is because the body breaks down fat where it wants to and then sends it to the liver to be used. However, you can certainly tone specific muscles with exercises."
Diet vs exercise
In other words, no matter how much exercise you do, if you don't change your diet, you'll struggle to change your body shape.
"I'd say it's about 20% exercise and 80% diet," reveals personal trainer Matthew Knights. "In trained individuals — those exercising consistently for years — exercise plays a bigger role in retaining leanness but it's still not great. We didn't evolve to cope with high calorie modern diets and they're just not balanced by the odd few hours of exercise. If the odds of exercise helping were better I'd be a millionaire!"
Walk it off
So, once you've got the diet sorted, what are the types of exercise that can make a difference?
"Walking is a great one," says Matthew Knights. "It won't get you thin — no exercise alone will — but it can help you with the common conditions associated with a beer belly such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
"Weight training can combat the loss of muscle and reverse the slowing of the base metabolic rate, although this is only suitable for those without other coronary risk factors and won't get rid of a beer belly without major dietary changes."
Reduce stress
Are you worried about that impending deadline or important presentation? Take a chill pill — research suggests that those suffering from stress are more likely to carry fat around the abdomen.
"There's evidence that high levels of cortisol can encourage the body to store fat around the middle," says nutritional therapist Angela Walker. "Cortisol is part of the body's response to stress, so working on managing stress can help to reduce the tendency to carry weight in this area."
The age issue
Unfortunately, shifting that spare tyre becomes harder as we get older.
"Men are most likely to develop what we know as a beer belly from mid-30s onwards," reveals Matthew Knights. "That's because after this age your metabolism slows due to sarcopenia (loss of muscle tissue with age) if you're not training your muscles correctly. So as you lose muscle you burn fewer calories but you're still putting the same amount of calories in, and the excess must go somewhere so it's stored as fat."
Chubby child?
Were you skinny or chubby as a child? You'll be surprised to hear that those who were overweight as children are less likely to develop what we refer to as a beer belly.
"We know that the number of fat cells under the skin is determined in childhood — if you were a lean child then you didn't grow many under the skin fat cells," explains Matthew Knights. "Lean children who then gain fat in adult life don't therefore have much fat storage capacity under the skin. So when the fat cells beneath the skin become full, the excess body fat 'spills over' into the abdomen around the organs. It's those who were lean children who you'll see with the extreme apple (beer belly) shape."
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http://blogging-along-with-pete.wallinside.com
There are plenty of reasons many men find themselves carrying excess 'timber' around their middle. The good news is there are also numerous ways to reduce it. We asked a team of health experts to explain 10 ways a man can banish his beer belly forever.
It's not just about the booze
First things first, if you're carrying a few spare tyres, your love of a cold beer is unlikely to be the only cause.
"Alcohol is not the main contributor to developing a beer belly — people get beer bellies due to a number of lifestyle factors that are interconnected," points out sports psychologist and personal trainer Lisa Foley.
"Saturated fat is obviously a contributor but sugar and carbs also have a major role in storing fat and building the beer belly. When we eat food that's high in sugar and carbohydrates we release the hormone insulin. Insulin's job is to store the excess blood sugar, and its favourite place to store blood sugar is in our fat cells."
Calorie counting
However, as beer lovers it's all too easy to forget just how many calories a beer can contain.
"The higher the alcoholic content, the more calories the drink has," points out personal trainer and nutritionist Kevin Witham. "Most beer will have around 150-200 calories if you buy a pint."
Additionally, alcohol is an appetite-stimulant, so it's not just the calories in your pint that can lead to weight gain, but that fat-laden kebab or burger you'll wolf down after closing time.
The processed problem
Processed food is just one example of a food item that can lead to what we refer to as a beer belly.
"Try and cut out as much processed food as possible," suggests personal trainer Lee Siemaszko. "Eat fresh produce, try a variety of fruit and veg, and eat organic food where possible. Change your diet to one that is high in protein, but lower in carbs, have lean cuts of meat, chicken, fish, eggs, nuts and seeds, cut down on pasta, rice, potatoes and try to cut down on bread.
"Drink lots of water: cut down on alcohol, tea and coffee, with the odd cup of green tea. This will help clear your body of toxins, hydrate you, and speed up your metabolism."
Tummy trouble
It's common knowledge that having a beer belly can spell disaster for heart health.
"The problem with belly fat is that it is active," explains Lee Siemaszko. "It works like a separate organ, releasing substances that are harmful to your body. Abdominal fat bears the blame for many heart-related health problems because the fat sits within striking distance of your heart, liver and other organs, pressing on them, feeding them poisons and messing with their daily function."
Exercise alone is not enough
The bad news? While certain exercises can help tone stomach muscles, no amount of squats or crunches will banish your beer belly if you don't change your diet.
"You cannot spot reduce fat by targeting that area with specific exercises like crunches," warns Kevin Witham. "This is because the body breaks down fat where it wants to and then sends it to the liver to be used. However, you can certainly tone specific muscles with exercises."
Diet vs exercise
In other words, no matter how much exercise you do, if you don't change your diet, you'll struggle to change your body shape.
"I'd say it's about 20% exercise and 80% diet," reveals personal trainer Matthew Knights. "In trained individuals — those exercising consistently for years — exercise plays a bigger role in retaining leanness but it's still not great. We didn't evolve to cope with high calorie modern diets and they're just not balanced by the odd few hours of exercise. If the odds of exercise helping were better I'd be a millionaire!"
Walk it off
So, once you've got the diet sorted, what are the types of exercise that can make a difference?
"Walking is a great one," says Matthew Knights. "It won't get you thin — no exercise alone will — but it can help you with the common conditions associated with a beer belly such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
"Weight training can combat the loss of muscle and reverse the slowing of the base metabolic rate, although this is only suitable for those without other coronary risk factors and won't get rid of a beer belly without major dietary changes."
Reduce stress
Are you worried about that impending deadline or important presentation? Take a chill pill — research suggests that those suffering from stress are more likely to carry fat around the abdomen.
"There's evidence that high levels of cortisol can encourage the body to store fat around the middle," says nutritional therapist Angela Walker. "Cortisol is part of the body's response to stress, so working on managing stress can help to reduce the tendency to carry weight in this area."
The age issue
Unfortunately, shifting that spare tyre becomes harder as we get older.
"Men are most likely to develop what we know as a beer belly from mid-30s onwards," reveals Matthew Knights. "That's because after this age your metabolism slows due to sarcopenia (loss of muscle tissue with age) if you're not training your muscles correctly. So as you lose muscle you burn fewer calories but you're still putting the same amount of calories in, and the excess must go somewhere so it's stored as fat."
Chubby child?
Were you skinny or chubby as a child? You'll be surprised to hear that those who were overweight as children are less likely to develop what we refer to as a beer belly.
"We know that the number of fat cells under the skin is determined in childhood — if you were a lean child then you didn't grow many under the skin fat cells," explains Matthew Knights. "Lean children who then gain fat in adult life don't therefore have much fat storage capacity under the skin. So when the fat cells beneath the skin become full, the excess body fat 'spills over' into the abdomen around the organs. It's those who were lean children who you'll see with the extreme apple (beer belly) shape."
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Friday, September 30, 2011
John Travolta and Nicholas Cage doubles...
Cover of Con Air
John Travolta
has popped up in a vintage photograph from the mid-19th century,
according to an eBay seller peddling an uncanny resemblance to the
A-list actor.
Travolta's doppelganger is a bow-tied, austere-faced gentleman who posed for a camera in 1860.
The seller, from Ontario in Canada, is billing the ruby glass ambrotype photograph as a "very young John Travolta Scientologist time traveller".
The Scientology reference may be a cheeky allusion to the Church's belief in reincarnation.
The photo is listed on eBay for NZ$65,000 "or nearest offer".
"I've had this interesting photograph for years and I've been unable to part with it," the seller said on the auction site.
"When you look at it and into the eyes of the sitter you will see what I mean!"
An antique photo purporting to resemble Travolta's Face/Off co-star Nicholas Cage also recently appeared on eBay.
But this American Civil War-era photo of Cage's doppelganger comes with starting price tag of NZ$1 million.
Seller Jack Mord, from the US city of Seattle, jokes that the 47-year-old Con Air star is a vampire who rejuvenates himself every 80 years or so, before appearing in "some other part of the world, young again, and ready to start all over".
The 10cm x 6cm thin paper photograph, dated around 1870, shows a man who lived in Tennessee but his name is not known, the seller said.
Mr Mord, who collects antique portraits, believes the photograph was taken by a confederate Civil War prisoner of war photographer.
Both sellers say their images are genuine and have not been tampered with in any way.
http://money.msn.co.nz/8354054/travolta-time-traveller-photo-on-ebay
http://blogging-along-with-pete.wallinside.
Travolta's doppelganger is a bow-tied, austere-faced gentleman who posed for a camera in 1860.
The seller, from Ontario in Canada, is billing the ruby glass ambrotype photograph as a "very young John Travolta Scientologist time traveller".
The Scientology reference may be a cheeky allusion to the Church's belief in reincarnation.
The photo is listed on eBay for NZ$65,000 "or nearest offer".
"I've had this interesting photograph for years and I've been unable to part with it," the seller said on the auction site.
"When you look at it and into the eyes of the sitter you will see what I mean!"
An antique photo purporting to resemble Travolta's Face/Off co-star Nicholas Cage also recently appeared on eBay.
But this American Civil War-era photo of Cage's doppelganger comes with starting price tag of NZ$1 million.
Seller Jack Mord, from the US city of Seattle, jokes that the 47-year-old Con Air star is a vampire who rejuvenates himself every 80 years or so, before appearing in "some other part of the world, young again, and ready to start all over".
The 10cm x 6cm thin paper photograph, dated around 1870, shows a man who lived in Tennessee but his name is not known, the seller said.
Mr Mord, who collects antique portraits, believes the photograph was taken by a confederate Civil War prisoner of war photographer.
Both sellers say their images are genuine and have not been tampered with in any way.
http://money.msn.co.nz/8354054/travolta-time-traveller-photo-on-ebay
http://blogging-along-with-pete.wallinside.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Gives a whole new meaning to cloud 
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Mum helping out with the team...
Cherish Arroyo admitted to sleeping with a minor.
A US mother has admitted having sex with two of her 16-year-old
son's football teammates, after one of the boy's mothers found
flirtatious messages from her on his Facebook page.
Police arrested Arizona woman Cherish Arroyo, 35, on Wednesday after she told them she had sexual intercourse and oral sex with a 17-year-old student and another young footballer from Copper Canyon High School, ABC News reports
.
Police are also asking for other students who may have had sexual relations with her to come forward, saying she indicated there may be other victims.
Maricopa County sheriff Joe Arpaio said Arroyo allegedly slept with the players in her family home, which she shares with her husband and two sons, aged 16 and eight.
As treasurer of the football team's booster club, Arroyo often invited the team to have dinner at her house before games, he said.
She allegedly started sleeping with the 17-year-old a year ago, when he was only 16.
But the relationship was uncovered when his parents found out he was flirting with Arroyo online.
"It was something like, 'I have some medicine for you'," Sheriff Arpaio said, describing one of the messages.
Arroyo was charged with six counts of sexual conduct with a minor and released on a $9,000 bond on Thursday after spending the night in jail.
http://blogging-along-with-pete.wallinside.com
Police arrested Arizona woman Cherish Arroyo, 35, on Wednesday after she told them she had sexual intercourse and oral sex with a 17-year-old student and another young footballer from Copper Canyon High School, ABC News reports
.
Police are also asking for other students who may have had sexual relations with her to come forward, saying she indicated there may be other victims.
Maricopa County sheriff Joe Arpaio said Arroyo allegedly slept with the players in her family home, which she shares with her husband and two sons, aged 16 and eight.
As treasurer of the football team's booster club, Arroyo often invited the team to have dinner at her house before games, he said.
She allegedly started sleeping with the 17-year-old a year ago, when he was only 16.
But the relationship was uncovered when his parents found out he was flirting with Arroyo online.
"It was something like, 'I have some medicine for you'," Sheriff Arpaio said, describing one of the messages.
Arroyo was charged with six counts of sexual conduct with a minor and released on a $9,000 bond on Thursday after spending the night in jail.
http://blogging-along-with-pete.wallinside.com
Monday, September 19, 2011
Obesity cure? Skinny gene found...
Obesity cure? "Skinny gene" found...
Ever wanted to know why some women can eat whatever they want and still
not gain any weight? New research has found it might be due to having
an 'overdose' of a certain gene.
Scientists
at Britain's Imperial College London and the University of Lausanne in
Switzerland discovered that a duplication of a part of chromosome 16 is
associated with being underweight, Reuters reported.
Previously, researchers found that people with a missing copy of this gene are 43 times more likely to be morbidly obese but this study was the first to identify a cause of extreme thinness.
"This is the first genetic cause of extreme thinness that has been identified," said Professor Philippe Froguel from Imperial's school of public health, who led the study. "It's also the first example of a deletion and a duplication of one part of the genome having opposite effects."
DNA of more than 95,000 children were analysed and half of those with the duplication of the chromosome had previously been diagnosed with a "failure to thrive", which means their rate of weight gain is significantly slower.
Researchers said that a duplication of chromosome makes men 23 times and women five times more likely to be underweight.
Professor Froguel said that while more research is needed, this may lead to new treatments of obesity and eating disorders.
"We now plan to sequence these genes and find out what they do, so we can get an idea of which ones are involved in regulating appetite," he said.
The study was published in the journal Nature
Previously, researchers found that people with a missing copy of this gene are 43 times more likely to be morbidly obese but this study was the first to identify a cause of extreme thinness.
"This is the first genetic cause of extreme thinness that has been identified," said Professor Philippe Froguel from Imperial's school of public health, who led the study. "It's also the first example of a deletion and a duplication of one part of the genome having opposite effects."
DNA of more than 95,000 children were analysed and half of those with the duplication of the chromosome had previously been diagnosed with a "failure to thrive", which means their rate of weight gain is significantly slower.
Researchers said that a duplication of chromosome makes men 23 times and women five times more likely to be underweight.
Professor Froguel said that while more research is needed, this may lead to new treatments of obesity and eating disorders.
"We now plan to sequence these genes and find out what they do, so we can get an idea of which ones are involved in regulating appetite," he said.
The study was published in the journal Nature
Blogging along with Pete
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Research between cannabis smoking and body weight
Image via Wikipedia
French researchers have made a surprising link between somking cannabis and body weight. File photo / Thinkstock
Although a common side effect of the drug is the "munchies", the results of the study show the prevalence of obesity is lower among people who frequently smoke marijuana compared with those who have never inhaled.
Between 4 and 7 per cent of participants in these surveys reported using cannabis at least once in the last year.
Obesity was assessed using participants' body mass index (BMI).
The survey showed that about 22 to 25 per cent of people who don't smoke pot were obese, while 16 to 17 per cent of cannabis users were obese
.
Obesity was less common among users who smoked pot more frequently. For instance, the NESARC survey showed about 14 per cent of participants who used cannabis three days a week or more were obese, the researchers said. Between 0.7 and 1.8 per cent of the sample smoked marijuana this frequently.
The researchers said they were surprised by their initial results, because they expected to find the opposite.
Researchers at the Louis Mourier Hospital in France suggested the link could be because people who use cannabis also engage in other behaviors that lower their obesity risk, or smokers exercise more or have a specific diet that keeps them thin.
"From a personal point of view, I would be surprised that cannabis use is associated with a higher rate of physical activity, but this cannot be ruled out," researcher Yann Le Strat told website MyHealthNewsDaily.
Le Strat also suggested that components of cannabis may help people lose weight, adding that if this was the case, researchers should investigate which components these might be and try to put them into drug form.
Despite the results of the study, Le Strat emphasised that people should not smoke cannabis to lose weight as cannabis has well-known physical and mental health consequences, including an increased risk of psychosis.
"As an addiction psychiatrist, I see every day people struggling with cannabis dependence. I would not recommend smoking cannabis for any reason," Le Strat said.
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